Life Changes
by Poseidonschild
Summary: Harry has been given a rare chance - a chance to change the future. Sent back to his school days to read seven books, Harry wonders about the choice he is going to make. Will the future be better? What will his friends think? And most importantly, will he still have his family when he returns to his time?
1. Chapter 1

Ottery St. Catchpool was a peaceful little town nestled in the rolling hills of the English country side. At least it used to be. In recent years an odd family by the name of Weasley moved into, well, somewhere. No one really knew where they lived, but they would just pop up now and then in the village. They had several children, but none were as well known than the twins, and that was what the town called them - The Twins. They were a troublesome duo and caused chaos wherever they went. The Villagers were never so happy as when they began to go away for school and they nearly held a celebration when word spread that the two boys had moved to London. Then the unthinkable occurred. A young man, a charming young man, a normal, young man moved into the village. Again, no one knew where it was that he lived, but since he was so kind and generous to everyone he met, they decided not to think to seriously on the matter. At least they didn't until word spread that the boy was seeing that strange Weasly girl and rumor had it they were engaged. Uneasily the Villagers shrugged it off and went about their business. The young couple married, proving the rumor true, and little more than a year later, the young bride gave birth to her first child. All it took was one look, one quick meeting with the baby boy, to know that their peaceful little town wasn't going to be so peaceful. A year later the woman gave birth to another child, a baby boy, much to the dismay of the villagers, and they followed that with a baby girl a year later. The three children were quite the handful as they grew up and the villagers were perhaps more relieved than they were with the twins when rumor spread that the children would also be going away to school. In fact the youngest was starting her first year at, wherever it was they sent those kids.

The family in question lived in a tidy two story cottage home just north of the Village. Harry James Potter had bought the home for his fiancé and now wife Ginnerva Weasley. Her family lived on the south side of the village. Most young families might have found it a nuisance to have the brides mother and father popping in nearly everyday, but Harry didn't find this annoying in the slightest. He loved having Molly and Arthur over as he considered them is adoptive parents and they were the only family he had left in the world. Harry's greatest love were is three children and his wife. Everyday he found it amazing that he had a family to love and cherish, to be annoyed with, to fight with and to laugh with. His second greatest love were his two best friends, whom he had always thought of as his brother and sister, and their children. He also had a godson who he adored and considered him as another son. Harry was never happier than when his family was congregated at his home.

"Harry, will you call the boys down, dinner's ready." Harry looked up to see his wife standing over the stove in the kitchen. When he had the house built he had chosen to go with the American style open floor plan rather than the traditional sectioned off rooms. He had also been wise enough, much to his wife's amazement and relief, to purchase american standard appliances to store and cook all the food for the large family.

"Sure thing Gin," Harry smiled at her and stood up setting his drink off to the side.

"Ron, I bought the kids butterbears since tonight is their last night together before school," Ginny announced. "Can you get them from the cooler?"

Ron sighed, but he knew better than to argue and trounced off to do what his sister had asked.

"Boys!" Harry shouted up the stairs. "Dinners ready!"

"I didn't actually mean call them, Harry," Ginny snapped at him. "I could have done that."

"Then why didn't you?" he asked innocently. Ginny sent her husband a glare before turning to the sink so she wouldn't have to hide her smile. Harry had really begun to open up after the war and she began to see a cheeky, mischievous side to her husband that she had never seen before then. It made her love him all the more, and it also made her heart ache to know that this Harry had never been allowed to exist until now.

"Boys!" Harry repeated when they didn't make an appearance.

There was thump from upstairs as something heavy was dropped on the floor and then stomping followed as the boys chased each other down the hall. There was another thump and then, "James! That hurt!"

"Wimp!"

"I'm telling Dad!"

Harry sighed as the boys came into view shoving each other. It was one thing or another with them. They were always causing trouble, either by fighting with each other or pulling pranks on everyone else.

"Dad!" Albus whined. "James is pushing me."

"James, don't push your brother," Harry sighed dutifully. "Where are your cousin and Teddy?"

"Right here Uncle Harry," Teddy said peaking his head with his turquoise hair around the corner.

"Diner's ready, come on," Harry said waving them down. James and Albus bolted down the stairs their cousin Hugo right behind them. Teddy followed at a more sedate pace. "They weren't causing too many problems I hope," Harry grinned at his godson.

"Not at all Uncle Harry," Teddy said innocently.

Harry narrowed his eyes on his godson, "And the grass is blue. Don't think I don't recognize the look on your face. The one that says nothing-happened-and-if-something-does-I'm-innocent-and-knew-nothing-about-it. Your father had that same look."

"No idea what your talking about," Teddy smirked as he turned away and headed over to where Ginny had the boys and their sisters, who had come in from outside, setting the table. Harry hadn't missed the extra spark in his eye however. Harry took the time to point out similarities between his godson and his parents as often as he could, because he knew how much Teddy would value that information. Harry had always enjoyed hearing how much he acted like his father and mother and he missed Remus and Sirius telling him those things.

Finally, the Weasley - Potter clan were all settled around the table. "Gin, it looks delicious," Molly Weasley told her daughter.

"Thanks, mom, but you and Hermione helped," she grinned pleased with her mother's praise. Molly was a home-body and no one was as good a cook as her, except for perhaps Ginny, who learned all she knew at her mother's knee.

"Shall we?" Harry asked looking around the table a broad smile on his face.

"We shall," Ron cried before diving into the food as if he had been starved all his life. Harry was just about to cut into his delicious looking mutton when quite suddenly his mutton wasn't there anymore. In the time it took them to blink, they were no longer sitting in their cozy kitchen but sitting on a stone floor surrounded by hundreds of people. Harry, acting on reflex alone, was up on his feet and pulling his youngest to his side. "Albus, James," he barked. The tone of his voice said it all and the two boys were quickly huddled behind their father, their sister between them. Ginny positioned herself behind them, protecting them from the back. From the corner of his eye he noticed Ron and Hermione behaving similarly with their own children and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had their own wands drawn, but they were also gapping at the front of the room.

Harry focused his attention there and nearly fell back in shock. Sitting before him, on a golden chair at the front of the room at the head table was a man with silvery hair and half-moon spectacles. A man Harry had thought never to see again in the course of his life. Harry didn't have to look at his friends to see if they were as astonished and speechless as he was.

"Can I help you young man?" The man spoke as he stood from his chair. His voice was calm, but there was a dangerous edge that Harry had known very well during his years at Hogwarts, though, it had rarely been directed toward him.

"Al...Albus?" Harry stuttered weakly, tripping over the name. "Albus Dumbledore?"

Harry could feel his younger son peaking around his back to get a look at the man. His youngest son had always been very curious about his name sakes.

"That would be me, perhaps, you would not mind telling me yours?" He asked politely still a dangerous tone in the vibrato of his voice.

"I'm..." He trailed off not certain how to answer. Ginny, now fully convinced there was no danger to her children came up beside him and gripped his arm in a show of support. Harry's gaze swung over to the table where he used to sit searching for a face he knew better than anyone else's. At last, when his eyes reached the middle of the table they met the gaze of a familiar green pair, framed with circular wire rim glasses. "Well I'm..." But still the words would not leave his mouth and again he found his gaze wondering, this time back to the head table. What year was it? He searched for a face that changed every year and there she was. The current Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts - Dolores Jane Umbridge. "I'm…" he tried again, but still he failed. Hermione's warning about time traveling finally surfaced into his mind from years ago and he looked to her now for guidance.

He need not have bothered for at that moment an owl fluttered in from the open window and dropped an envelope before Professor Dumbledore before soaring back out the window. It looked to be a great-horned owl, but it was solid grey in it's color, with tuffs of white beneath it's wings and around it's ears. Dumbledore lifted the letter and then fell back into his chair in shock.

"Sir?" Harry asked taking a cautious step forward.

"Well what does it say?" Dolores Umbridge demanded.

Dumbledore gave him a curious look and then lifted the letter to better see it. "It reads," he began.

"Dear Hogwarts Staff and Students,

Today you see before you twelve strangers. They are here for a momentous occasion of which you all will be apart of. For the first time we are giving you the opportunity to change the future. We hope that you take this seriously and responsibly. Those of you who found themselves here rather suddenly, do not be afraid of tampering with time for you are here to do precisely that. Harry Potter, this is entirely your decision and good luck with whichever one you chose. There are a few stragglers who will arrive soon. You will know when everyone has congregated, Harry, my little Hero.

Yours in Magic,

Lady H. and T.O.

P.S. Tap the letter three times to discover how to change the future."

Silence filled the great hall the last words echoing through the room. Harry grimaced. He could nearly hear the thoughts of everyone in the room. All of them were probably wondering how the future could be so awful, or what was so bad about it that it needed to be changed, and the more skeptical were probably wondering if this was a hoax and were most likely blaming Fred and George.

"Let me see that," Umbridge finally snapped standing from her seat and snatching the letter away from Dumbledore. Harry glared at her.

"How about seeing what occurs when we tap the letter?" Dumbledore suggested when Umbridge made said nothing.

She handed him back the letter with distaste. Dumbledore laid the letter out before him and pulled out his wand. On the third tap there was a soft glow of light that came and went quickly and where the letter had been was a stack red leather books neatly tied together. Umbridge leaned over his shoulder a look of disdain on her face as she read the titles. "They're all titled Harry Potter," she sneered. Harry felt the blood rush to his face and he could see his younger self blushing as well.

"Well, Mr. Potter, the letter did say it was your choice whether or not we were going to change the future. Are we?" She smiled sweetly, the one that spoke of nothing good and devilish plots.

"While I'm certain that Harry has an answer, I don't think the letter was speaking of that particular Harry," Harry finally spoke up, rescuing himself (an odd concept that he had trouble truly wraping his mind around).

"Seeing as I'm the only Harry in this room that understands what the future for you all is, I'm fairly certain that the letter was speaking to me."

"Your also named Harry Potter?" Umbridge asked in disbelief looking for all the world as if her worst nightmares had come true.

"No, Dolores, I am not also named Harry Potter. I am Harry Potter," Harry smirked at her. Then he pointed to himself sitting at the Gryffindor table. "I'm that Harry Potter roughly fifteen years in his future."

Harry could see that Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling as Umbridge seemed to have lost the ability to speak and any color she once had in her cheeks. "Really? How interesting. And what do you intend to do Mr. Potter?"


	2. Chapter 2

Harry had no answer. He looked to his wife Ginny, already knowing what she would ask. She would want Fred back and Tonks and Remus. His gaze passed from her to his best mates and from them to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. He knew what he wanted, but was it right? He glanced towards the books and then down to his children. He didn't know what the books were about, but he was certain there was information in there that he had never intended to tell them. Things he hadn't even told his friends were probably in those books. He looked over to where George and Fred sat with Ginny's younger self. Then his gaze travelled to the head table where they met the twinkling glint of his old Headmaster. It was obvious what he thought, but Harry didn't want Albus's opinion. His eyes traveled over the row of teachers until they landed on the pale, greasy form of his old Potions Master, Severus Snape. The man who had hated him with nearly every fiber of his being and despite that had given everything to protect him from meeting the same fate as his parents.

"Professor Snape? May I have a word with you?" he asked. He didn't wait for a reply. He wasn't certain that Snape would refuse. "Don't introduce anyone yet, Gin. I'm not certain what I want to do." With those parting words Harry walked out of the hall Severus Snape following a moment later.

Harry entered the first door that he came across and strode straight to the window pressing his hands against the sill and staring down onto the Hogwarts grounds. He didn't see the blue sky or the birds flitting around in the courtyard. Instead, Harry watched his own ghosts play out an old war on the front steps. He saw the bodies of fellow school mates strewn across the yard staring up at the heavens unmoving. He saw the rubble tumble from the battlements and the flying buttresses littering the ground, blood stained. He could hear the screaming, the pleading for the pain to end. Watched as Ginny leaned over a fellow student who begged her to allow her to go home, she didn't want to fight anymore, the pain in her stomach was to much, she just wanted to go home. A sharp click drew him from his dark thoughts and his mind turned from the shadows of his past to his present conflict. Silence reigned as Harry tried to put his thoughts together.

"Well Potter?" Severus sneered.

"I used to think of you as an overgrown bat you know? Well I still do technically," Harry began letting out a humorless laugh. "I used to think that their couldn't be two more opposite people than you and I. A sign of my youth and ignorance. There could not be two people more alike, than us."

"Don't compare myself to you Potter," Snape snapped.

Harry finally turned to look at him. "I was in fifth year, this year in fact, when I discovered that you and my mother used to be friends. I spent years mulling that over in my head trying to understand why she could befriend a heartless, bastard such as yourself."

Snape glared at Harry with cold fury. His hands clenched he opened his mouth to speak, but Harry beat him to the punch. "I will have my say Severus. I've been sitting on this for nearly fifteen years and it needs to be said," he snapped then cocked his head and studied the potions master. "Last year the first victim of a new war died and I saw my parents murderer come back to life. Cedric will not be the last death. So many die. That's what I was doing when you walked in - watching the battle unfold. It happened right down there, you know, in the courtyard," Harry pointed. "I blamed you for so much of it. It wasn't till the end that I realized what role you did play. How could I have ever thought him heartless when he loved my mother so deeply? How could I have thought him heartless when he spent my whole life trying to protect me?" Harry paused to look at the man in curiosity. Snape seemed unable to fully grasp what Harry was telling him. There was shock and confusion on his face shadowed with anger and most of all sadness. "It took time, but I finally understood. My mother saw the brave Gryffindor you could have been had you chosen that path - Oh, yes, I know about you sorting. Another similarity between us. You chose Slytherin over Gryffindor, while I chose Gryffindor."

"So, first I would like to say I apologize for some of things I've said over the years, and in your case some things I will say. Looking back I could see how they might have been especially hurtful for you to hear. Secondly, I would like your advice. Well, mostly, in this case I would like the advice of my mother, her being the voice of reason between the two of them, and that's where you come in Severus. You who knew my mother perhaps better than anyone in that room would know best what she would do or say in my position."

Snape starred at him. It was a long few moments an Harry could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out what his angle was. "She would have read the books. Lilly would never pass up an opportunity to save a life," he sighed.

"No she wouldn't, would she?" Harry agreed with a soft smile. "One last thing Severus. What would my mother say to you, if she saw you today? If she forgave you, as I know she would, would you be her friend again. Would you put aside your hatred for my father so that you could continue to be her friend? Be the sibling of her heart as she had thought of you? Oh, yes, Severus, my mother loved you, but it was the love of a sibling. The need to protect you from your family and to fill the space that Petunia was leaving. I found her diary you see when I took over the estates. I would very much like the brother of my mothers heart to be a member of my family Severus. If you would like to read the diary, let me know I will tell you where you can find it. I simply want your word that you will leave it there. No need to give me an answer now, just think it over."

"Why?"

Harry smiled ruefully, "because we're the abandoned boys. You, me and Voldemort. The boys with no family who found a home at Hogwarts and for the two of us, we also found a family, but you- you turned away from your family and held onto grudges and your hate and you walked the path Voldemort walked. But you loved still and that is what saved you from becoming a similar atrocity. So knowing that there is some good in you, that there was a chance that you could be more than a shadow, my mother would never forgive me if I turned away from her friend, and I would never forgive myself."

Harry stood and left the room leaving behind a thoroughly surprised Severus Snape. After a few moment he followed behind the young man still determined to hate him, lilies voice ringing in his ears.

Harry entered the Great Hall and headed straight for Ginny. With one last thoughtful look at his children he turned to look up at Professor Dumbledore and smiled. "I want to read the books," he announced. He felt Ginny sag into his side with relief and the happy but doubtful look Hermione was giving him.

"Very well," Dumbledore said sitting up a little straighter. "Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves then we will see about getting you settled in here at Hogwarts for your stay. Minerva any guests that show up, you can just bring them straight up to my office. I think we can begin later this evening, just after dinner and the staff can come up with a regular schedule that won't completely hinder everyone's education," Dumbledore grinned.

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," Harry agreed. "Well, as you already know, I'm Harry Potter. This is my wife Ginny Potter previously Weasley." Harry had to bite back a laugh at the looks teenage Ron, Fred, and George were sending his younger blushing self and the bright faced young Ginny. "These are our children. My oldest, James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter…"

"WHAT?!" The word was echoed by both his younger self and Severus Snape.

Harry sent both of them a glare and then continued. "...And this is Lily Luna Potter."

"You named her after me?" Luna asked from the Ravenclaw table.

"I did," Harry nodded and then turned to Ron and Hermione.

"Well I'm Ron Weasley," Ron announced waving selfconciously to the crowd.

"I'm Hermione Weasley."

"Oh God," the younger Hermione moaned dropping her head into her folded arms. Sitting beside her Ron looked uncomfortable, drained of all color and a pleased expression on his face, he was trying to decide if he should comfort Hermione or not.

"These are our children," Hermione sniffed. "Rose and Hugo."

"I'm Arthur Weasley," he waved uncertainly. "This is my wife, Molly Weasley."

"Great not just another potty, but more weasels too," Malfoy sneered from the Slytherin table.

"Grow up, Draco," Harry snapped before his younger self or either Ron could make a comment. In the future Draco turned out to be a bit better than his father, though he was still a Pureblood righteous git. "You're a bit old to be acting like your three. " Malfoy's face turned a pretty shade of pink, but he said nothing in return.

"Professor McGonagall will you please show them where they can stay?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Of course Headmaster," she replied standing up from her seat a sweeping down the steps toward them. The last thing Harry noticed as he herded his children out the door was the furious expression of Dolores Jane Umbridge.


End file.
